The Call
by mugseymalone
Summary: Paige gets a call from and old "friend", an abusive old boyfriend that could expose a dark secret if she dosen't do as he says
1. The call

Paige Matthews stood looking into a full length mirror in her bedroom in the manor, she added the finishing touches to her makeup, fluffed her hair and headed downstairs, carefull to close the door behind her. Quietly making her way down the creaky old stairs, she cringed as one of the stairs creaked, it was late....too late and she didn;t want to wake up her sleeping sisters. Grabbing her coat and purse she headed out the door, careful to lock and close it quietly.  
  
It had been early in the afternoon when she had gotten a call from and old friend, or at least thats what he had called himself. After 3 years she thought she would never see him again, she accepted it and moved on, but apparently he hadn't. She hadn't mentioned it to Piper of Phoebe, they tended to worry over nothing, and they didn't need any extra stress.  
  
She had decided to drive to the bar where they were meeting, driving occupied her mind to a degree, gave her something to concentrate on, other that what Nicolas wanted. Paige didn;t know what it was about him but she never could refuse him, even at the worst of times. Once upon a time they had been in love, but that had slowly faded until like a flower it withered and died.  
  
Standing on the street she peered up at the tacky flashing sign,"Gimbels", she took a deep breath and pushed open the door, making a face at the overall delapatated state of the bar. Her eyes scanned the room then settled on a dark figure sitting on a rusted bar stool, as if on cue, the stool swivelled and faced her, it's occupant waving her over. "Hey babe, long time no see...Want a drink"  
  
Paige rolled her eyes and sat next to him.  
  
"ummm...no...thanks....What do you want nicolas, it's like 2 am"  
  
He stared at her, pushing aside a sudden urge to backhand her.  
  
"oh come now, is that the way your going to treat an old friend?"  
  
"You are hardly a friend, now what is it you want" Years ago she would never have dared talk to him this way, but she felt a lot more confident than she had back then, things were different now.  
  
Nicolas lost control momentarily, and slapped her across her delicate face. "What I want, is you Paige. You owe me, and you know it. 


	2. The encounter ends

Paige's draw dropped slightly, but looking into those cold blue eyes,   
she quickly sobered.  
  
"I don't know what your talking about" Paige sat back against the bar,  
crossing her arms.  
  
A low chuckle emitted from his lips.  
"Come now Paige, this isn't the time to play stupid"  
He reached out and ran his hand down her hair.  
  
Paige pushed his hand away, not likeing where this was going.  
  
"Paige...Baby...Let's not play this game" He reached out, and in  
in one swift motion grabbed her wrist.  
"What would your new found family think of you if they knew, what kind  
of a person you really were. What if a certain story were to cross  
your sisters desk, telling her about Trish"  
  
Paige stared at him, eyes wide. For years the night of her friends  
death had haunted her dreams. She had finally been able to surpress it,  
and here Nicolas was threatening to bring it all out again. This was  
something she wasn't sure she could get through, especially if Piper  
And Phoebe were to find out.  
"what do you want from me....please....don't tell anyone Nicolas"  
  
A wide smile streached across his face.  
"Thats more like it babe"He stood preparing to leave  
"we'll be in touch "  
With that he turned and left leaving Paige in a frightened stupor.  
  
  
It was Nearly 3 am when Paige snuck in the door of the Manor, and   
crept up to her bedroom. Her bed felt so welcoming, so soft, all she wanted  
to do was to climb under the blankets and hide. Deep down she knew that  
this situation was going to get a lot worse before it got better.  
  
That night paige tossed and turned, The nightmares from her past had  
begun to resurface. For weeks after her friends death she had locked  
herself away in her bedroom, laying in bed, refusing to eat and barely  
sleeping. She couldn't go through this again, she wouldn't and couldn't,  
and for now that ment doing whatever Nicolas wanted, no matter how awful,  
Her sisters would be as ashamed of her if they knew, and she had felt  
about herself. Why was this happening now, things were finally starting   
to work out, her life was good, except for the deamon attacks of course.  
Now she had what she had always wanted, a real family. 


	3. one nightmare ends, another begins

For Paige the night seemed to drag on forever, she drifted in and out  
of sleep, from one nightmare to another.  
  
When she finally dragged herself from bed, the clock was blaring 10:00am, a  
utteral groan escaped her lips as her bare feet touched the floor. She still  
felt so tired. For a brief moment she had forgotten all about last night  
and everything was okay, but as quickly as that moment of peace had come,  
it had equally as quickly left, leaving her feeling apprehensive. What  
would Nicolas demand of her, how long could she appease him before her  
sisters found out anyway. Pulling a pair of jeans and a pink top from   
her dresser, she quickly dressed and headed downstairs.  
  
Paige grimaced as an odor of something rotten waffed into her nose.  
"ugghhhh....what died"  
  
Piper poked her head from the kitchen, Phoebe close behind, piper was the  
first to speak.  
"well....we were trying out a new potion, until Phoebe! added the wrong  
ingrediant" She gently elbowed Phoebe.  
  
"oww...Piper i said i was sorry" Phoebe rubbed her arm, and pouted.  
  
Paige pasted a smile on her lips, and nodded".  
"Ahh...I see"  
Walking past them she headed for the kitchen for some much needed coffee.  
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed both sisters follow her.  
  
"Paige...you okay"  
Piper stood with her hands on her hips, watching her, a worried look  
playing through her features.  
  
"I'm fine..just tired, i'll be fine once i get some coffee into me"  
  
"you sure nothings wrong?"  
Pipers instincts told her that there was something bugging Paige, more   
than a desire for coffee. She couldn't pinpoint it yet, but she promised  
herself that she would keep and eye on her, something wasn't right.  
  
It was later in the afternoon when the phone rang, Paige quickly answered  
it, and shudder ran deep through her spine, as a low husky voice spoke.  
"Hey Babe, how are ya..."  
  
Paige paused, taking a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.  
"I'm fine, what can i do for you Nicolas"  
The sound of him chuckling made the hairs on the back of her neck stand  
on end.  
  
"Fine, right to business. I have an...assosiate, that would like to meet  
with you tonight, alone of course"  
  
"what kind of an assosiate, and what does this assosiate of yours want?"  
She tried to keep her nervousness buried.  
  
"Thats between you and him. Meet him tonight, theres a small bar called  
Jaunties, be there by 1am. Paige i mean it, do not bail out on this or   
I go to your sisters."  
  
"Fine i'll be there"  
With one burst of courage she hung up the phone, not waiting for his  
reply.  
  
It seemed so long ago that Trish had died, that night seemed a lifetime  
away. It had started out so innocently, them going out to a bar they wanted  
to meet up with some other friends. But they never showed up, at the time  
it hadn't seemed all that odd, but looking back on it, it did seem strange.  
Their friends had never stood them up before. They had enjoyed a few   
drinks then headed out to the park, trying to walk off the effects of  
the alchohol.  
  
Paige was forced from her thoughts by the sound of their old grandfather  
clock booming, telling her that it was midnight. She stared at it shocked,  
where had time gone, she must have dozed off wihout realizing it. Slowly  
she rose from her chair and went to the hall for her coat and keys, then   
headed out the door, praying that the cost for her secret wouldn't be too   
high. 


	4. The first metting

Paige stood outside of Jaunties, checking her watch every few  
minutes. She knew she was early, but she was anxious to get  
this meeting overwith. Biting the corner of her bottom lip as she   
always did when nervous, she didn't notice the approaching footsteps.  
  
"Good Evening Ms.Matthews"  
  
Paige nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of a dark primal  
voice. She spun around and found herself face to face with a demon.  
This had been exactly what she had been afraid of, she had worried  
that this 'assosiate' would turn out to be some sort of evil thing.  
  
"who are you?"  
  
"I am Khorlhan, I believe Nicolas told you i was coming"  
He spoke very politly, which clashed with his deep gutteral voice.  
  
"yeah he told me.....how do you know Nicolas"  
As soon as the words had left her lips she was sure she wouldn't want  
to know.  
  
"That is between Nicolas and myself, all that should concern you right  
now is what i want"  
  
Her deep brown eyes stared at him, trying to figure out what it  
was he wanted. She prayed it had nothing to do with hurting her sisters,  
because that is something that she would not do, no matter the cost.  
"What do you want?  
  
"I want a sample of each of your sisters hair"  
  
She stared at him confused.  
"Why?"  
  
His golden yellow eyes almost pierced her flesh, his eyes portrayed   
his annoyance.  
"Because I do"  
  
She looked at him, confused by his request, what could he possibly  
want with her sisters hair. But she didn't think that he could   
possibly do anything terrible with it, maybe he just had a weird hair  
fetish. Weither she liked it or not, she had to do it, there was not  
other choice.  
  
"Fine"  
  
He smiled, relaxing a bit.  
"Meet me here tommorow night at 2am, and you'd better come alone"  
  
"If I do this will you leave me alone?"  
  
"For now Ms.Matthews, but i can promise nothing about Nicolas."  
  
"Fine, I'll be here tomorrow night"  
With that She turned and walked away, leaving Khorlhan with a  
satisfied smile streached on his pale features.  
  
It was late and Paige couldn't wait to climb into her warm bed, pull  
the covers over her head and hide from the world. 


	5. the first task

It was around 1:00 when Piper knocked on Paiges door. She was starting  
to seriously worry about Paige, this was the second night that Paige and  
been up into the wee hours of the morning, where had she been going,  
she doubted it was a date, where ever she had been going, it had been  
tiring her out. Piper had you knock a second and third time before   
she got a response.  
  
"..Yeah.."  
  
" Paige sorry to wake you up, I just wanted to let you know that  
Phoebe and I are going going shopping, we were wondering if you wanted  
to come with us"  
  
"Nah it's okay,, I have some things i need to do today, you guys  
go ahead, have fun, and bring me back something"  
  
Now Piper knew that something was wrong, Paige...not wanting to go  
shopping...This was serious.  
  
"Okay...Take care, and have fun Sweetie"  
  
  
  
Paige pulled her pillow over her head, listening to the sound of  
Piper walking down the stairs, and out the door.  
The whole night she tossed and turned, barely able to sleep, when her eyes  
finally finally closed again, her dreams shifted and wandered to To Trish,  
It was dark and the sky was threateing rain, She and Trish were stumbling  
out of a party, they were both drunk, being less drunk than her friend  
took the keys and climbed behind the wheel of their car. They were speeding  
down a backroad, when Trish opened the car door.  
  
Paige Sat up in her bed, drenched in a cold sweat, she sprang to her feet  
and padded down the hall and into the shower.  
  
After a half hour under the hot water tap, she stood drying her hair   
infront of the bathroom mirror, setting down the towel, she noticed Phoebe   
and Pipers brushes, they must have left them out this morning. Quickly  
she picked out some hair from each brush grabbed a little baggy from  
one of the shelves and shoved the hair into it.  
  
The rest of the day she spent in the attic studing the Book of Shadows,   
up until her sisters came home and insisted she ate dinner with them.  
  
It was almost 1:00am when she grabbed her coat and walked out the door,  
what she didn't notice was Leo standing behind her watching her leave.  
  
  
A/n I will put up the next chapter in a few days, it will be one on the  
longest ones. Thanks for the feedback!!! 


	6. repercussions catch up

Paige pulled her jacket closer to her, trying to keep out the  
cold. Her mind was spinning, would the deamon really leave her alone  
after this, something deep down inside her told her that this would  
not be the end of her troubles. After all she still had Nicolas to  
deal with, and that scared her even more that the yellow eyed demon  
that now stood infront of her.  
  
"Ahhh Ms.Matthews you are prompt, I trust you have done as i have  
asked?"  
  
"Duh...why else would I be here?" Paige thrusted the bag of hair  
out towards the demon who scowled then took the bag from her.  
  
"Pleasure doing business with you, I look forward to our next encounter"   
With that the Demon Shimmered into the night leaving  
Paige standing alone, cold, afraid, guilty and depressed, 'what had  
she just done?  
Leo walked up behind Paige with a look of concern on his face.  
"Paige whats going on? What were you doing with that Demon?"  
  
Paige jumped at the sound of his voice, her already fair skin  
paleing even more. What was she going to tell him.  
"Leo...what are you doing here?"  
"I couldn't sleep and I noticed you going out late again...I was  
worried so I followed you"  
  
"You followed me?!...Don't I deserve any privacy, I would expect  
this from Piper and Phoebe but not you!"  
  
Leo was not fazed by her outburst, his instincts were telling him  
that something was wrong, and that she was in some kind of trouble.  
  
"Paige whats wrong?..what evers going on I can help you if you will  
just let me"  
  
Paige was shaking...she didn't know weither to be grateful or  
angry.  
"I'm fine Leo....I'm okay.....I can handle this don't worry"  
Her voice had an underlying tone of sadness and guilt in it.  
  
Leo sighed  
"Paige....."  
"Leo don't...I'll be fine...i'm gonna go hook up with some friends  
at a club ,i'll see you later"  
Before Leo could say anything more she had Orbed away.  
Having nothing else to do Leo went home, if she wasn't home by  
  
morning he was going to have to tell Piper. The well used couch  
squeaked as he lowered himself onto it, he would wait here until  
she got home.  
It was around 7:00am when Paige staggered though the door,  
drunk out of her mind.  
  
Leo woke with as start, as did the rest of the household as Paige  
staggered through the door, slamming the door behind her.  
  
"Leo!! What are you doing at the bar" Her voice was slurred, and  
she still held a bottle of Jack Daniels.  
  
"Paige what are you doing?!" It was Pipers voice as she stomped  
down the stairs, she stopped when she saw Paige, her eyes were red  
and swollen.  
  
"Piper...I'm sorry..I..." Paige looked from Piper to Leo, Her body  
finally saying no more  
"Leo..I tried to fix it...I really did....he was too strong" As her  
body said No More, she fell to the floor, her blood stained coat  
opening to reveal her charred and bleeding abdomen.  
  
Both Piper and Leo rushed to her side.  
"Leo hurry"  
Kneeling beside of his fallen charge he placed his hands over her  
abdomen, surrounded it with a glowing white light.  
Piper sighed in relief as the wound disappeared. 


	7. the truth comes out

Before Paige could even open her eyes she could hear Piper and Leo  
talking, more like a dull murmor peeking through the dark cloud  
that surrounded her mind.  
Slowly she opened her eyes, and found herself staring at a  
worried and angry Piper.Gently Piper pushed some hair away from her  
sisters eyes. Unfortunatly her instincts had been right, and  
something was wrong.  
"Paige, honey...what happened"  
  
She could still feel the alchol clouding her mind, she didn't want  
to run or hide anymore, maybe she did need help.  
  
"I had a run in with a demon"  
  
"Yeah...I gather that...how did it happen...whats been going on,  
Leo told me that he saw you last night, Let me help you sweety"  
  
Paige took a deep breath trying to push the fog from her brain.  
  
"I didn't want you to know....i didn't want anybody to know,  
Nicolas told me he wouldn't tell if i did one of his friends a  
favor he would leave me alone....When Leo saw me I was delivering  
a sample of yours and Phoebes hair...I don't know what he wanted  
with it....I felt so guilty....So I went to stop him, to get it  
back....but he was so strong...I couldn't stop him...I got it back   
though...Nicolas...he's going to be so mad" Tears began to spill  
from her eyes.  
  
"shhh...it's okay" Piper wrapped her arms around her little sister,  
what bothered her most is What she didn't want them to find out  
about.  
  
"Paige....whatever happened that you don't want us to know about,  
it's okay, we'll get through it together, just tell me so i can  
help you....please"  
  
Paige stared at her older sister, what did she have to lose, since  
she had failed Nicolas was bound to come knocking and tell them  
anyways.  
"Nicolas..he and I used to date back in highschool, he was a 'bad  
boy' and i loved him for it. He used to get really mad....I would  
do things that would upset him...he didn't mean to....it was my  
fault really"  
  
"paige....that wasn't your fault"  
  
"that may be true but What happened to Trish was my fault. I was  
driving, I made her let me drive because I thought i was less drunk  
than she was. It was so dark that night, it was like the moon was  
hiding, I could barely see anything...I didn't see the tree infront  
of me...i veered off the road....The tires made an awful squeal,  
the glass shattered and flew everywhere, She tried to get out but  
couldn't, I orbed out of the car just before it hit, I went back  
for her but...she was dead....a part of the tattered and crushed  
metal. I was so scared...I ran...I just ran...I didn't go for help.  
Her body was found the next day, they buried her...I should have  
been buried with her...I survived and she didn't"   
  
Tears poured from her in a neverending stream.  
  
Piper held onto her, rubbing her back, letting her get it out.  
  
"Paige look at me....There was nothing else you could do if she was  
already dear....you thought you were helping her...chances are she  
would have crashed that car wether you were driving or not. You  
know things happen for a reason...you survived for a reason, you  
have done so much good, helped so many people. You need to let it  
go, I bet she forgives you, she knows it was an accident, and so  
should you"  
  
"But what about Nicolas?"  
  
"He dosen' have any power over you Paige, you are stronger now, you  
have the power, we will face him together if he comes.....he only  
has power if you let him"  
I cried myself to sleep that night, but for the first time in along  
time i felt safe...I felt relieved...free. Piper held me all night  
I wasn't the same scared girl that I once was, he didn't have any  
power over me anymore, and he never would. 


End file.
